ES is the Place to Be

I don't think it matters what market you trade, or frankly what strategy you use, as long as you are consistent and get repeatable results. The bottom line is, in fact, the bottom line.

Having said that, there are certainly strategies that have been shown to be more consistent than others in terms of application to a broader segment of traders. I would imagine that there are literally hundreds of thousands of smaller retail types trying to scalp ES using one minute or tic data and any one of many common technical indicators. MACD, oscillators, you name it. Common approach, common results. How typical.
 
Quote from oldtime:

I quit trading ES in 2007. 2006 was a very hard year for me personally as a scalper. I beat my head against the wall the whole year just to break even. After I had my nervous breakdown (yes, there was a woman involved) I went crazy and just started position trading and got lucky, and that is why I am still solvent today.

never really learned anything or figured it out, just got lucky

but when they invented globex, you didn't have to be very smart to make an acceptable living.

my first year trading ES I made $8.00/hr on a 28k account (thank G-d for the part time job working the night shift at the C store, came in really handy paying the bills during the drawdown)

after about a year I put in my two weeks notice, by then $400 a day was normal. I didn't get it everyday, and there still were some bad streaks. But it was easy money other than the fact that I lost about a week off my life expectency for every 1k I made.

I haven't lived a good life, but I hope God never punishes me by making me scalp ES again.
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Hey oldtime. Thanks for sharing your past experience. I love reading these types of things. You basically said you would hate to have to scalp the ES again. What is your advice then, to a fairly novice trader, should I be trying to learn to scalp/trade daily or learn to position trade and manage a portfolio?
 
Quote from cyoungmark:

Hey oldtime. Thanks for sharing your past experience. I love reading these types of things. You basically said you would hate to have to scalp the ES again. What is your advice then, to a fairly novice trader, should I be trying to learn to scalp/trade daily or learn to position trade and manage a portfolio?
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the point of the thread was, when so many of us are negative on ES because it's not like the old days, then according to contrarian logic, that must mean it's good again. Just don't accept any advice from people like me.
 
Quote from oldtime:

the point of the thread was, when so many of us are negative on ES because it's not like the old days, then according to contrarian logic, that must mean it's good again. Just don't accept any advice from people like me.
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Huh? I was just wondering if you could go back again, would you trade a different style..
 
Quote from cyoungmark:

Hey oldtime. Thanks for sharing your past experience. I love reading these types of things. You basically said you would hate to have to scalp the ES again. What is your advice then, to a fairly novice trader, should I be trying to learn to scalp/trade daily or learn to position trade and manage a portfolio?
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I think most traders do it backwards, usually cause they don't have much cash to trade long term stocks. I was lucky when I started, there was no day trading for retail in late 1970's, so I was forced to do charts by hand and had all night to think if a trade would be good. So, I think it best to first get good long term trading, and work down into day trading after a handful of years, by then you will understand Price Action much better.
 
Quote from cyoungmark:

Huh? I was just wondering if you could go back again, would you trade a different style..
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I would spread ES against YM or NQ. Handle123 explained on another ES thread how to trade ES. That's exactly the way I did it, but he claims it is not for young traders, I claim it is not for old traders.

Most start out scalping because not enough money to hold a position.

But to be honest with you if I was just starting out again, which actually I am, I like forex, so both you and I are just beginners over there, and that is a good place to start out and learn, which is what I am doing. I Like it because no matter how small your account is, in forex, you are never undercapitalized. And that is probably the biggest problem for every independent trader. Even just one ES contract can be too much for a small account, and then you lose the option of averaging down, which inspite of what everybody tells you is a necessary evil unless your entries are flawless.

But like I said, don't take advice from me, because all I know is how it use to be.
 
also, I had a few years just watching as a broker, and then 13 years trading full time for a living (until I blew up) and then after a 9 year hiatus (running my own business) I traded wheat, corn and beans, for a year (on a 28k account) before I ever put on my first ES trade. So I didn't really ever start ES as a beginner trader, but when I saw what a great deal globex was for the little trader, I closed out my commodity account (ES was about all they traded electronically, no beans or crude or gold) and opened an account with IB and just traded ES exclusively.
 
Quote from oldtime:

I would spread ES against YM or NQ. Handle123 explained on another ES thread how to trade ES. That's exactly the way I did it, but he claims it is not for young traders, I claim it is not for old traders.

Most start out scalping because not enough money to hold a position.

But to be honest with you if I was just starting out again, which actually I am, I like forex, so both you and I are just beginners over there, and that is a good place to start out and learn, which is what I am doing. I Like it because no matter how small your account is, in forex, you are never undercapitalized. And that is probably the biggest problem for every independent trader. Even just one ES contract can be too much for a small account, and then you lose the option of averaging down, which inspite of what everybody tells you is a necessary evil unless your entries are flawless.

But like I said, don't take advice from me, because all I know is how it use to be.
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Yeah I've been following forex for a year or so now. Mostly the EUR/USD. The only problem is the lack of transparency for me. I don't like how the quote you get is from the bucket shop, and thats what you have to go off of.
 
ES is great, only issue being that you need patience for your targets, especially if you are swinging. For my style, I can't really make it to work scalping.

I am also looking at the CL as it seems to give quick movement and may be a good way to augment ES swings with some CL daily trades, especially when I am not in an ES trade.
 
Quote from cyoungmark:

Yeah I've been following forex for a year or so now. Mostly the EUR/USD. The only problem is the lack of transparency for me. I don't like how the quote you get is from the bucket shop, and thats what you have to go off of.
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not at all... I chart the 6E, 6B and 6S currency futures but fill executions in EUR, GBP and CHF. Other than the 6S - CHF being inverted, all are identical across futures and spot.

No different than trading SPX or OEX or SPY index options off ES charts.

At this point in time, I don't even look at spot FX charts when trading FX... pretty much just the currency futures charts :)
 
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